Terminal for taking bets

ABSTRACT

The terminal includes a unit for entering bets, a unit for printing information on a betting receipt, a unit for checking the validity of a receipt received, a unit for checking that the printed receipts conform with the information to be printed on them, and a unit for invalidating receipts, arranged to be activated under the command of the checking unit. The invention applies well to popular betting games.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to popular games and more especially those whichconsist in taking bets, generally at retail betting outlets, on a horserace, a football match, a lotto draw and other events.

To record the players' bets, each retailer is provided with a gamerecording terminal linked to a distant central unit which manages theentire taking of bets made with all the terminals which form a gamenetwork.

In order to place a bet, the player, for instance at a horse race, ticksa game grid, indicating his forecast for the placing of the horses. Theticked grid is read by a game recording terminal and the central unitallocates an identification number to this record of a bet. The player'sbet and his identification number are then printed by the terminal on areceipt given to the player.

In the case where a player's bet wins, he must present his receipt toone of the retailers of the game network. The validity of the receipt isthen checked by the retailer's game recording terminal, linked to thecentral unit, before the winnings are paid to the player.

Such a check aims especially at avoiding paying winnings on thepresentation of a forged receipt, but does not have any dissuasiveeffect aimed at stopping an attempt to defraud.

Besides, in spite of the good faith of the player, his receipt can bearfalse or illegible information, due to problems with the printer(electrical, mechanical or programming), with the printing paper (moreoften than not, thermal), or with transmission, in the game recordingterminal which has printed the receipt.

In short, the security of the systems of prior art for recording gamesis not guaranteed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention aims at making the game recording terminals more secure.

To this end, the subject matter of the invention is a game recordingterminal comprising:

means for entering bets;

means for printing information on a betting receipt; and

means for checking the validity of a receipt received;

characterised by the fact that the terminal comprises:

means for checking that the printed receipts conform with theinformation to be printed on them: and

means for invalidating receipts, arranged to be activated under thecommand of the checking means.

It will observed that the invalidation means can be activated by theconformity checking means as well as by the means for checking thevalidity.

Thanks to the invention, a receipt for a winning bet is automaticallyinvalidated, after validation, by the terminal. Besides, the terminalself-checks the information which it prints on each receipt in order torender invalid the erroneous receipts. The terminal of the inventionthus contributes to further safeguarding the bet entries.

Advantageously, the means for checking the validity and the means forchecking the conformity comprise common means of image analysis.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the invalidation meansinclude printing means.

The invalidation of a receipt is thus carried out by simple marking ofthe word “invalid” for instance.

Advantageously, the printing means intended for printing the bettingreceipts and the printing means intended for invalidating the receiptsare distinct.

Again, preferably, the means of entering bets comprise means of imageanalysis common to the checking means.

Thus, in this last case, the means of image analysis are designed toanalyse, or read, not only the information carried by the receipts, butalso that of the betting supports, such as the game grids for instance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood with the aid of the followingdescription of a preferred embodiment of the game recording terminal,referring to the single drawing enclosed which shows a functional blockdiagram of said embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Game recording terminal 1, to equip a game retailer, is linked to adistant central unit 100, through the switched telecommunication network(STN) 101, a plurality of terminals of a game network being thus linkedto the central unit 100.

The retailer can, with the aid of terminal 1:

enter the players' bets in order to transmit them to the central unit100 and give betting receipts to the players, and

check the validity of the winning betting receipts with the help of thecentral unit 100, before paying out the corresponding winnings to theplayers.

Terminal 1 comprises a manual entry 2 to introduce an informationsupport into terminal 1.

By definition, the information support can be a game support on which aplayer's bet is entered, or a betting receipt.

Through a support driving mechanism, entry 2 communicates with an imageanalysis device 3 comprising a captor image sensor, intended here forreading information from an information support.

Image analysis device 3 also communicates with the output of a receiptprinting unit 8 comprising a write head 7, thermal here, a roll 6 oftape paper infeed, fitted on the output shaft of a rotary driving motorand a paper cutter 16 to cut the receipts, associated with a paperdriving device. The printing unit 8 is connected to a unit 9 forcommanding printing, in the case in point a microprocessor linked to aworking storage unit 10.

A printing head 12 for invalidation is placed behind the image analysisdevice 3 following the driving direction of the information supports,the whole forming a checking and invalidation unit 11 intended forchecking the validity or the conformity of the receipts, then forinvalidating some of them, as will be explained later.

The checking unit 11 is connected to a microprocessor 4 commanding theanalysis, linked to a working storage unit 5.

In output, checking unit 11 is linked to an exit 17 for ejecting aninformation support.

Terminal 1 comprises also a man-machine interface 13 linked to twocommand microprocessors 4 and 9 and comprising a validity indicatorlight and an invalidity indicator light.

Both microprocessors 4 and 9, connected to each other, are alsoconnected to a transmitter-receiver unit 14 linked here by a wire linkto the central unit 100, via the switched telecommunication network(STN) 101.

Finally, the two working storage units 5 and 10 are respectivelyconnected to two inputs of a comparator 15 linked in output tomicroprocessor 4 commanding analysis.

After the structural description of the game recording terminal 1, itsoperation will now be described.

To enter a player's bet, his game support is manually introduced intothe game recording terminal 1 via entry 2. After automatic driving ofthe game support from entry 2 to image analysis device 3 under thecommand of microprocessor 4, the support information, namely theplayer's bet, is read by the captor image sensor, then recorded in theworking storage unit 5 and also transmitted to the distant central unit100 by means of the transmitter-receiver 14, via the STN network 101.The game support is afterwards ejected from terminal 1 via the ejectionexit 17.

The central unit 100 records the transmitted and received bet in adatabase of all the bets made in the plurality of the terminals of thegame network. Moreover, central unit 100 allocates to the entry of aplayer's bet an identification number transmitted in return to terminal1, then recorded, after receipt by unit 14, in memory 5 which alreadycontains the player's bet.

Under the command of analysis microprocessor 4, the contents of memory 5are transferred to memory 10 and the microprocessor 9 commands printingunit 8 to print the bet and the number which identifies the player on areceipt. The roll of paper 6 is then rotary driven in order to feed theactivated printing head 7.

After printing by head 7, the receipt is cut (16) and driven to thechecking and invalidation unit 11.

The bet and identification number printed on the receipt are read by thecaptor image sensor of the analysis device 3, and the information readis stored in memory 5 initially empty.

After printing and analysis of the printed information, the respectivecontents of the two memories 5 and 10 are compared with one another bymeans of the comparator 15.

If there is similarity, the printed information on the receipt being inaccordance with the information printed on it (bet and identificationnumber), the receipt is ejected via exit 17, under the command ofmicroprocessor 4.

In the case of non-conformity of the receipt, due for instance to aprinting error, microprocessor 4 activates the invalidation head 12 inorder to print “invalid” on the receipt which is then ejected via exit17.

In order to check the validity of a receipt carrying a winning bet, thereceipt, manually introduced into terminal 1 via entry 2, is analysed bythe image analysis unit 3. The identification number and the bet printedon the receipt are read and transmitted to the central unit 100 by thetransmitter-receiver unit 14, via the STN network 101.

Central unit 100 checks the validity of the receipt and informs terminal1 of its validity or its non-validity, transmitting specific informationreceived by unit 14 and transmitted to microprocessor 4.

In the case of validity of the receipt, the validity indicator on theman-machine interface 13 lights up, and the invalidation head 12 isactivated in order to print “invalid” on the receipt under command frommicroprocessor 4. The invalidated receipt, thus unable to be the objectof new later validation is ejected from terminal 1 via exit 17.

In the case of invalidity, the receipt is directly ejected from terminal1 and the invalidity indicator lights up.

A different embodiment of the game recording terminal has only a singleprinting head which is intended both for printing and invalidating thereceipts. The terminal comprises in this case a reverse travel system inorder to reverse the receipts, after printing and analysis and beforecutting and ejection, towards the printing head for invalidation.

I claim:
 1. A game recording terminal (1) comprising: means (2, 3) forentering bets; means (7) for printing information on a betting receipt;and means (3, 4, 14) for checking validity of a receipt introduced intothe terminal via said means (2, 3) for entering bets; wherein terminal(1) comprises means (3, 15, 9, 4) for checking that the printedreceipts, after having been printed by said means for printinginformation on a betting receipt, conform with the information to beprinted on them; and means (12) for invalidating receipts, arranged tobe activated by the means for checking the conformity of the receipts aswell as by the means for checking the validity of the receipts. 2.Terminal according to claim 1, in which the means (3, 4, 14) forchecking the validity and the means (3, 15, 9, 4) for checking theconformity comprise common means (3) of image analysis.
 3. Terminalaccording to one of claims 1 and 2, in which the invalidation means (12)comprises printing means.
 4. Terminal according to claim 3, in which theprinting means (7) intended for printing the betting receipts and theprinting means (12) intended for invalidating the receipts are distinct.5. Terminal according to one of claims 2 to 4, in which the means (2, 3)for entering bets comprises means (3) of image analysis common to thechecking means (3, 4, 14, 15, 9).